


Growing Pains

by thefallingdead (orphan_account)



Category: Natalie Noel - Fandom, Youtubers, david dobrik - Fandom, vlog squad, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Affection, Angst, Cute david, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Jealous, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 17:16:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21019388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/thefallingdead
Summary: A throughly inebriated David blurts out some hidden feelings towards his best friend, turned carer, one faithful night. Nothing too major (not yet anyways) but it turns out seeing Natalie so openly affectionate with everyone who isn’t him has been getting him down!





	1. Chapter 1

The blustering wind caused her (now loosely) curled hair to whip against her cheeks; a force to be reckoned with. Seriously, shit hurt. Natalie WOULD have rolled up the window. If the rolling up mechanism contraption thing worked, that is. 

“Skype call with Ian, sponsored ad stories for boohoo, accountant meeting-“ A groan interrupted Natalie’s train of thought. “-And looking after a drunk David.” 

Drunk as a skunk, Lorraine had said. I only had a Coke, David had said. 

Natalie closed off her note-penning app with a swipe of her manicured finger and sighed. She looked down at a splayed out David. He took up most of the already cosy backseat with her lanky, wrangled limbs. His inebriated self held no hesitance in plopping his head down on her lap either. 

David shuffled closer to her thighs, wanting to get closer to the radiating heat and bundling up her short black dress in the process. 

“Quit it.” Natalie murmured. ‘I’d like to preserve what little dignity I have left after this night.’ 

“Natalieee..” David whined, his bleary eyes meeting hers. “I want to get off this rollercoaster. Like right now.” His words were punctuated with sighs as he voice wavered even more. The Uber driver seemed to no longer need to live vicariously through the Fast & Furious movies and instead made his dreams a reality. The car jostled harshly as he sped over speedbumps. At least Natalie THOUGHT they were speedbumps. 

The neon green signage of an upcoming 711 loomed in the near distance amongst throngs of other partygoers. Natalie seriously considered asking Javi to stop for a few minutes tops for some painkillers but she was already in his bad books over making him wait. 

“Fuck, my head.” David all butwhispered tugging his denim jacket closer around him. Natalie froze, about as solid as Jeff’s abdomen, as David took hold of her hand and placed it upon his head. His dazed eyes couldn’t help but blink to a close as Natalie pressed the palm of her hand against his ‘throbbing’ forehead. 

“This is what you get for being a dumbass around pineapple vodka floats!” Natalie quipped but her voice lacked edge in favour of a rarer softer tone. She settled her own head against the window. 

Traffic lights, red ones that Javi drove through, green that Javi sped through and yellow that Javi cursed through, shone in through the tinted grass. It created various subdued hues that enveloped the pair- shit another pothole. 

Natalie couldn’t help it. Her fingers mindlessly combed through David’s perspiration ridden but still majorly fluffy hair. His bottom lip jotted out. He smiled smalley up at her. She gazed down at him fondly but still kept a wary eye on the meter. She rarely Bought credit cards or much paper money with her on nights out. Nights out were usually regarded as “David needs blog content like right now” pseudos. Besides they only drank really, not gone rockclimbing. Except for that one ti-

“Why’d you stop?” Dave pouted and in his drunken stupor tried to again find her hand. He latched confidently onto her seatbelt. 

The impatient stare from Javi in the mirror spurred Natalie on. She gathered her belongings at a faster rate. 

“We’re home Dave” She explained quickly but his head wouldn’t budge a singular inch from her lap. Stubborn as always. 

“Can’t we drive around- hey Mr Taxi Man can’t we drive around the block again? Just one more time, deadass.” David slurred out. 

“Other clientele. Vamos.” Javi dismisses them courtly with a wave of his hand. 

“You suck.” grunted David, matter of factly. Natalie mumbled hasty apologies under her breath and he wrenched the payment from her outstretched palm. No change? Alrighty then. Dickhead. 

Lugging a floppy David into the house and onto the couch proved to be a hefty task. His eye foot coordination was 10x worse drunk than him sober. 

“Whew! I used arm muscles I didn’t even know I had. I might just leave your ass and become a body builder one of these days.” Natalie glanced down at the sprawled out 23 year old. 

David’s face suddenly morphed into the most downcast of expressions and Natalie felt compelled to kneel down beside him on the cool flooring. Her face embodied all that is confusion. 

“No. Don’t ever leave me, please?” David frowned. Natalie damn near melted, she won’t lie, as he rested his hand on her forearm that was resting on the cushion. He looked up at her with his big brown eyes, waiting (im)patiently for her reply. 

“Hey, hey, hey! It was only a joke, you dork!” 

At her words David’s mood switched to the polar opposite, a complete 180°. His signature cheesy grin blossomed on his face once more albeit sleepily. 

“Okay. Thanks!” He whooped softly. Natalie let out a breathy laugh before flopping down beside David on the couch, said David being totally entranced in his hands. She couldn’t blame him. 

With a flick of the wrist (and the various remotes) the television and electric fireplace switched to life. Basking in the warmth and comfortable silence with the lack of interruptions or others surrounding them was different. A good different! 

It was a welcome change to the usual deafening music and hard-to-keep-up-with conversations. Natalie was sure the neighbours agreed with her stance too. Hell even the sound of fake nails scratching down a blackboard was better than- Natalie shivered. 

She half tuned into the news broadcasting stations as they relayed info on rallies and the like but David’s murmurs took her attention soon after. 

“I wish I was Zane, man” He said drowsily. He clutched a nearby blanket to his chest as Natalie looked on. 

“Hmm? Why’s that?” Natalie pondered as she riddled with the remote, twirling it around her fingers. “Because I dont! I can’t handle Zane usually, nevermind a Zane 2.0.” She laughed good-naturedly. However her hearty laughter soon dimmed as she heard David’s pathetic attempt at a fake chuckle. Something Liza could never do, but we shan’t get into right now. 

“But you love Zane!” David sniffed and stared blankly at the plasma screen television. I love you too, Natalie felt inclined to say but couldn’t. Or maybe that’s more of a wouldn’t. 

“True that but-“ The brunette let her high ponytail down and shook out her hair till it tumbled down her shoulders. “-It doesn’t mean I want another one of him!” She illustrated her words with arm gestures. David paid more attention to those than her words. 

“Yeah. Makes sense.” He shrugged and blinked rapidly in order to stay awake. 

Just as Natalie thought David had drifted off beside her he piped up again. 

“I just think that Zane’s- Zane’s real lucky.” He slurred out. Natalie scoffed and shoved him gently. 

“Says the multi-millionaire! Zane has got an ant infestation for the second time this week.” 

“I don’t like it when my aunt visits either.” David sympathised. He raised his arms as Natalie tucked the blanket properly over him. She smiled. The opportunity to stroke his chest during the process for a moment, just a moment, was not passed up by her.

Her fingers trickled over a semi solid resting place and her thumb grazed his chest over his, you guessed it, black t-shirt. 

“Zane gets Natalie hugs. They’re the best type of hugs! And- and Zane gets- Zane gets all the hugs.” David’s head lolled about as he struggled to sit up, his view still littered with the aftereffects of alcohol. 

A lump grew in Natalie’s throat as his words sunk in. She had expected his usual tirade of drunken rambling and unrealistic vlog ideas but this? This seemed much more than that. 

The brunette eyed him up, pensive. 

“Do you like hugs Davey?” She questioned softly. Amidst his playing with the zipper of her open jacket he replied, “Nah. I just like your hugs.” 

Guilt washed over her like waves tumbling ashore and she wasn’t sure exactly why. I mean it’s not like she rejected his hugs or affection per se, aside from that one time he was coated head to toe in slime. However the pair had lost that physical closeness they had as adolescents. 

A flashback struck her, multiple ones really. Of Jason remarking on her ‘disgusted’ facial expressions during Datalie talk podcast segments. Of the incredibly awkward hug shared between the pair after her car surprise. Of her hugs with Zane. Cosied up pictures with Ilya and Jeff. Where did David come into things? 

It’s not that she did something wrong to David, it’s just that she didn’t do the initiating. Not really anyways. It was always him. 

Natalie’s attention fell on David as he prodded her thigh. 

“You okay Nat?” His face was scrunched up slightly in worry. “Usually I cant get you to shut up!” He teased happily. Natalie’s mouth dropped open in mock offence and she punched him on the shoulder. 

“Oi!” She let out a giggle. ‘Wait did that sound seriously just come from me?’ 

His cheekiness eased a smile on her face. 

“C’mere.” With that she tugged his head down on her chest and collarbone area and sunk back with him resting on her against the soft cushions of the couch. Sober David would probably have frozen him and wouldn’t be sure whereabouts to place his hands. This David was a whole other story! 

The fireplace sent an orange glow around the room, paired alongside with whatever visuals reflected from the television. They were both otherwise preoccupied to notice the broadcasts. 

Meanwhile Smirnoff ridden David snuggled right in against her. God the biggest smile decorated her face to the point where her highlighted cheeks ached and she tried to contain it in case he looked upwards. She cautiously but warmly wrapped her arms around him. His mop of hair tickled her rosy cheek as she rested it on there but you’d hear no complaints from her and that’s for sure! 

He smelt of laundry detergent and a sort of clean cottony scent. Yes she took a sneaky breath in. She hoped her perfume, a flowery concoction, wasn’t overly empowering or strong. Him burrowing even closer served her her answer. 

David wound his arms beneath her jacked and around her waist and his grip didn’t loosen until he dozed off. Shy whispers of promised changes filled the air from Natalie. 


	2. Growing Pains Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David and Natalie get used to being more affectionate with one another!

Bottles upon bottles and packages of packages surrounded Natalie. She sat cross legged on the bed utterly drowning in Pandal, Neurofen, and store own brand painkillers. You name it, she had it in arms reach. Or at the very least was sitting on it. 

Natalie skimmed over the labels, heaving sighs as none seemed to be strong enough dosage for neither David or Zane. She genuinely felt like some old timey alchemist from David’s Dungeon & Dragons game. Or Jeff. 

Zane’s complaints of his pain fell on mostly deaf ears and so he bit on the various pillows surrounding him. Nice. 

Both her and Matt pilfered through the bottles but to little success. It was a pain. Hah! Matt ruffled his hair in annoyance as he side eyed the alarm clock, 12:32pm. Another half an hour, at best, for the chemist to be ready with the proper wisdom teeth removal numbing creams and whatnot. 

Carly peeped her head around the doorway a fair few times to check on Zane, now called Toothless, and warned the pair of a hangry and hungover David’s awakening. Way to make it sound like he’s a vampire. 

Natalie laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear as Zane beckoned her forward with puckered lips. She leant down on his shoulder, resting a bit of her body weight on the man. Mission narrow avoiding of bloody drool dripping from Zane’s gaping mouth: success. 

Matt rolled the most suitable bottle of medication over to him with a “Yoink!” and began crushing it into Zane’s drink. He masked his irritated semi well when Zane played with (read as: yanked roughly) Matt’s locks. 

This morning had been up in the air to put it lightly. David half woke up with a bare recollection of last nights events and the severe urge to puke up his soul (mostly) into the toilet bowl. Due to his rare indulgence in the Vodka floats his camera manning skills were not exactly up to par, so to speak. The footage came out blurry for the most part despite the (top of the range) camera focuser. Read as: Unusable vlog material. 

Natalie sighed as Zane squeezed her much too tightly. She hated seeing David so stressed and worse yet disappointed in himself. Oh and Zane got his wisdom teeth distracted and was in excruciating pain. That too. 

“What’s up?” A rhetoric question sounded as the bedroom door was pushed open. Natalie’s eyes trailed up David’s body to his face. He was still wearing his red striped pyjama bottoms and short sleeved black vest and was still looking as cute as he was last night. 

Natalie noticed it. It was lighting but she seen it. David’s grin faltered as he ran his brown eyes over Natalie and Zane’s position but he quickly recuperated. 

Wordlessly recording the going’s on Natalie found she greatly missed his usual commentary. It was replaced by a brief question directed towards Zane about his pants, or lack thereof. 

Natalie smoothly (hastily and very obviously) evacuated Zane’s hold. He pouted but didn’t try stop her. 

“Will I tell Taylor to pick you up some Chipotle Dave?” Natalie questioned to which David shrugged. 

“I’ll ask her myself. Your usual Nat?”His eyes were averted from hers the moment he could. Zane’s garbles distracted her. 

“Go away Dave, you’re too loud man!” He said with little hesitance in his delirious state. The silence in the room was tangible as David merely shrugged and went to turn on his heel. 

Natalie braced herself in the seconds it took to crawl to the edge of the bed and of course shoulder Matt in the process. Her knee landed on something suspiciously squishy. A pillow. Zane could still have kids.

David paused as her small hand wrapped around his wrist, ultimately stopping him. 

“No-“ Nat dragged out the o’s. “You can’t leave me here with these guys.” David watched her closely as she sat back on her knees pulling him so that he leaned over her. 

“You seemed pretty alright when I got here? I’ve got get to get extra footage anyways.” David, despite his excuse, made absolutely no attempt whatsoever to dislodge himself from her. 

“Extra footage is my middle name. Yours is Julian.” Natalie tilted her head to the side, mischievous swimming in her eyes as David pulled a face. 

He looked extremely tempted to stay but dramatic laughter arose from the living room, taunting him. Natalie rolled her eyes before kneeling upwards; Her fingertips reached up to gently nudge David’s face towards her. He fumbled over his word choice as he realised there are certain closeness. The brunette bit her lip which may Davids eyes hone in on that one spot. Above her lip. A zit really. Okay no, he’ll admit it, just her pinkish lips. 

“I really- I really would love to stay and spoonfeed Zane but-“ 

“We can get under the covers and edit together. Hm? You never know, maybe there‘s some footage still usable.” His eyebrows the road as he reminisced on his shaky camera skills. 

“Besides..I want you here.” Natalie included nervously. David is wide eyes snapped back to hers and that was it. 

After much clambering over limbs (instead of walking around the side of the bed like a normal human being), disgruntled complaints from Zane as he chowed down on the metal spoon instead of the cinnamon jelly, the pair finally budged up beside one another on the bed. 

...

The camera whirred and buzzed as the lens centred in on Natalie. She recited and rehashed the days events and some story on Zane’s behaviour that incited laughter from the attentive trio. 

Natalie rolled onto her side from her back and turned away from the camera towards David. His double chin protruded in the cutest of ways as he waited. 

“You should put like text below when editing- no comic Sans- saying Natalie cam” David’s eyes lit up as that new segment idea came to mental fruition. 

Natalie smiled contentedly even though her arm holding up the camera was starting to ache. 

“Extra work!” David groaned jokingly to which Natalie mocked.He hadn’t realized just how much he missed this easy flowing banter of theirs. 

“It’s easier then freeze frames” They shared knowing smirks. Natalie leaned over David to the point where she could feel his breath as she placed his camera down. 

David sensed her sore throat from her storytelling and handed her his water bottle to take a grateful and greatly needed swig from. 

“Guys, David is going to get us a puppy!” Natalie directed to the camera on the nightstand. 

David nodded his head at the camera but shook his head at Natalie. 

“Nope” He popped the P. “Not happening!” Natalie gently smack to hand down over his mouth, successfully cutting him off. 

“10,000 likes and he’ll do it” She interceded and Matt and Zane damn near guffawed. 

“He’s a YouTuber with 8 million views and 500 K likes on the daily!” Matt chuckles in a know-it-all tone. 

David suddenly grabbed Natalies wrists in one hand and acted as a catalyst for her play struggling. She glared at him as he effortlessly slugged down his water bottle contents. 

“I’m going to get that puppy.” Natalie replied. Her eyes drifted over his jawline unabashedly. 

She leaned over him determinedly and he hitched an eyebrow, looking such a way that made her thoughts wander. She was like a river. Cute boy turned 50 shades of smouldering. Not okay. 

“Oh yeah? Good luck.” He grunted, squaring up. Natalie groaned and swatted him with the sleeve of her merch hoodie before flopping down on his chest, defeated. 

“Heard that!” David laughed as she cursed him out. His grin was the tell-tale that he wasn’t just this happy over the footage. 

Natalie felt him contemplate for a second, as if revving up his bravery engine reserves. The camera lens clicked to focus on his unexpectedly strong arms as they wrapped around Natalie. 

“Come here.” he said. Natalie felt herself being hooched up directly onto his chest and his arms encircled around her. 

“Does this mean we’re getting a puppy then?” she wondered aloud. Being flush against him she could feel his laughter rumbling in his chest. 

“You never give up!” he teased affectionately as he rested his chin on her head. This was major. For him. For her. For them. This newfound old connection! Things had changed between them lately, she knew that. Did he know that too? And this was only the beginning. 

“Mark my words!” Natalie mouthed to the camera. David swayed her from side to side as she glowered at the lens. However when she realised she didn’t have to like hide her happiness anymore like usual? She allowed a smile to form. Zane mumbles as David banged into him slightly but otherwise stayed lost in his own world as Matt cleaned out his mouth with salt and water solution. 

Natalie reached out and tilted the camera away. As it was shoved aside the entangling of their legs, her short covered tan ones and his pale as a ghost tracksuit bottom covered one, was recorded. 

“I am assuming this is the second channel gold then?” she giggled, her lips brushing the skin of his neck as she spoke. 

David brushed her back gently, soaking up this rarer-than a-white rhino-moment. He relaxed beneath her fully. 

“Main channel.”

Natalie popped up at that from the crook of his neck. She met his eyes before closing hers. With a fellswoop she leaned down and pressed her lips to his cheek. Holding it for few seconds, her hand crept up to tilt the opposite side of his job with the knuckle of her index finger. Not that he’d pull away anyways. 

David’s hand paused midair, shocked at her lack of hesitation in front of Matt. Is fingertips barely touched her shoulder because all’s that he could focus on was how near illegally soft her lips were. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! ❤️ it’s been a day and a half whew! Thank you for helping with writers block and my suggestions for story or one shot ideas are still open so if you’d interested in sharing then my tumblr is @irishtowriteabook and Instagram would be @angelaxxmariexx as far as I remember. Comments seriously motivate me so if you can please do take a few seconds! Thank you! Have a good day! 
> 
> -Ella 🌹

**Author's Note:**

> Seen first on tumblr @/irishtowriteabook (name change!) 🌸
> 
> I’d like to dedicate this to one of my new favorite writers @dorkstagram because woah their works are out of this world dudes. Like on (in? Why is English like this.) another planet, it’s so good! 
> 
> Hope this did the request justice and stay tuned for the next chapter where we shall hopefully see Natalie become more affection with Dave!
> 
> -Ella 💕


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